Manchester City are the closest thing to being a ‘perfect’ team, claims Owen Hargreaves

Manchester City are the closest thing to the ‘perfect’ team right now following their 5-0 thrashing of Sporting Lisbon, according to Owen Hargreaves.

Pep Guardiola’s men all but qualified for the quarter-finals of the Champions League after scoring four goals in the first half of the first leg against the Portuguese champions before Raheem Sterling’s stunning second-half strike.

Bernardo Silva scored twice but along with his boss claimed the Premier League champions can still improve, with the Portugal international going as far as suggesting they were ‘sloppy’ in the opening 45 minutes in Lisbon.

Bernardo Silva (L) and Raheem Sterling (R) scored stunners as City thrashed Sporting Lisbon

But speaking to BT Sport after the game, former City midfielder Hargreaves insists no team would ‘get near them’ the way they played in the first half, and admits he is stumped as to how they can be defeated.

‘There is no such thing as perfection, but they’re as close to a perfect team if there is one right now,’ Hargreaves said.

‘When they’re that clinical and efficient as they were in the first half, I don’t think anyone can get near them.

‘In the second half, if anything, they took their foot off the gas because they only had one shot on target.

Pep Guardiola (L) and Silva (R) insisted City could still have played better despite scoreline

‘I don’t know how you beat them, I’ll be honest. Before we used to watch them and say “they’ll give you chances”. They don’t give you chances anymore.’

Meanwhile, fellow pundit Rio Ferdinand praised the impact of boss Guardiola, insisting he has ‘set a standard’ at the Etihad Stadium and created a ‘culture based on winning’ his way. 

‘He has set a standard at that club,’ the former Manchester United centre-back said.

‘If you don’t reach the standard he has set, whether you score five or 10 goals, he will not be happy and you’ll be made to know.

But Hargreaves (above) admits he does not know how City can be beaten right now

‘He puts demands on players individually but also as a collective. That relentless drive for perfection, which is almost unattainable, but which you have to strive for.

‘The culture there is based on winning a certain way and the particular way he wants to see that he drills day in day out.

‘I wouldn’t be surprised at half time when they went in at 4-0, that he was screaming at the players.’

Fellow ex-centre-back Joleon Lescott, who made 160 appearances for City, believes those demands are evident not only by what he says, but also his actions when on the touchline. 

Rio Ferdinand meanwhile heaped praise on Guardiola for the standards and culture at City

‘It’s not just the comments, you see the way he coaches,’ Lescott said. ‘We can hear him shouting. 

‘He treats the game like it is 0-0 regardless of what the score is. He is aware of what players need to do, especially at this level.

‘It is not the most dominant performance I have seen City have but it is the most efficient.’ 

Joleon Lescott also praised Guardiola, insisting he always treats the game as if it was goalless